#And maybe Zelda isn’t great at melee so she’s teamed up with some rouge guy who is unbelievable with a sword and he’s come along to fight

[ziskeyt]

I reblogged this before and I do agree with the premise, Zelda is the main power to stop the encroaching evil of Demise/Ganondorf/whatever the game’s evil is that she is in. HOWEVER she is not the main character in the game. The games are about Link. The games are about going in to save her and save Hyrule and all that, yeah, but the games are also about helping out the people of Hyrule. (Or well, wherever Link is in the game I’m looking at you, dreamwhale)

Zelda is powerful. If course she is: she has the blood of the goddess and therefore the power of a god at her disposal. The conflict between her and Demise/Ganondorf is a fight of divine power, of epic proportions. But we’re playing as a kid, or a teenager, with no particular special power except he’s got the spirit of courage, he’s not backing down when the enemy is a thousand times more powerful than him, when it’s a hundred times bigger, he gets up when he’s knocked down because he is stubborn and brave. These games are about being that little elf guy in green or blue, about having the courage to keep going when things are rough to do what is right, and they are also about stopping to help people where you can. Of course Link is the main character.

Zelda is the main character in the telling of the battle with the Great Evil. Zelda is the important being in this fight so of course she is the main character when this story of the fight and triumph over the usurper, over the Demon God or the Demon King is told. But she’s not the main character of the games. That’s conflating the most powerful characters in a story with the protagonist, and she isn’t. And tbh, as long as she’s a divine weapon, for the tone of these games, she kinda can’t be. The games aren’t about that. They’re about what it’s like to come into this fight in the third act, when the divine power requires the help of a mortal hand. They’re about helping people find mushrooms, or learn how to cook, or get their ranch back, or build up a town. They’re about what it’s like to live in this world of epic divine battles and be a nobody and have to worry about monsters killing your livestock. They’re about the people,(and also the land, I mean who couldn’t fall in love with the land of Hyrule in BotW) and when you play as Link that is a huge part of the experience, and it’s why he’s the main character because through him you see why this place and these people are something to fight for.

and I think that’s pretty special.

This comment made me shift my perspective on Zelda, no joke. I’ve always been annoyed (and still am) that there isn’t a game where you actually play as Zelda, but this does a nice job of showing WHY she’s always getting attacked first, and why Ganon/Demise are always defeated not long after Link reunites with her: she’s the true source of power to defeat them.